Advertisement
Artificial intelligence
TechBig Tech

OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever to leave ChatGPT maker after briefly supporting ouster of CEO Sam Altman

  • The departure ends months of speculation in Silicon Valley about the future of a top AI researcher who co-founded OpenAI after being recruited by Elon Musk
  • Sutskever posted on X that he is working on an as-yet-unnamed project that is ‘very personally meaningful’ for him

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever is leaving the company after a nearly decade. Photo: AP
Bloomberg
OpenAI Chief Scientist and co-founder Ilya Sutskever is leaving the artificial intelligence (AI) company, a departure that ends months of speculation in Silicon Valley about the future of a top AI researcher who played a key role in the brief ouster of Sam Altman last year.

Sutskever will be replaced by Research Director Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI said on its blog Tuesday.

In a post on X, Sutskever called trajectory of OpenAI “miraculous” and said that he was confident the company will build AI that is “both safe and beneficial” under its current leadership.

Sutskever’s nearly decade-long tenure at OpenAI has been a dramatic one. When OpenAI was founded in 2015, he served as its research director after being recruited to join the company by Elon Musk. At that point, Sutskever was already well known in the field for his research on neural networks at the University of Toronto and his work at the Google Brain lab.

Ilya Sutskever, co-Founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, gives a talk at Tel Aviv University on June 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Ilya Sutskever, co-Founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, gives a talk at Tel Aviv University on June 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters

A central figure at the company, Sutskever even officiated the wedding of President Greg Brockman at the OpenAI offices.

Advertisement